


Rusty

by iloveitblue



Series: Prompts [371]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, set sometime before all the drama in AoS, so maybe s01 and s02-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 18:05:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6715600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iloveitblue/pseuds/iloveitblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Clint thinks Phil is a little rusty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rusty

**Author's Note:**

> There is a man in SHIELD that Clint believes is greatly undervalued. Flying under everybody’s radar, this man has managed not only to keep himself from getting into trouble but also to remain invisible. He is known only to the few he’s interacted with, and even they forget about him sometimes.

In fact, the only reason why Clint knew about this man was because he was looking. Clint grew up with paranoia as his best friend so he makes it a point to know who he’s working with - if not by name, then by face. He remembers the SHIELD agents he works with. He remembers the faces that pass through the halls of SHIELD everyday.

And then, one day this man, this unassuming, middle aged man comes waltzing into Fury’s office, hands the obviously superior officer a classified folder and walks out. Needless to say, Clint had wondered for the rest of the day who the man was. 

After days of searching (SHIELD is a humongous organization with stations worldwide, of course it was going to take Clint a little more than a few hours to find him) Clint had finally found the man by breaking into SHIELD’s servers and accessing the personnel files. (Also, it’s a little hard to find one face in a database full of employees)

The man’s name was Phillip J. Coulson. He worked in the Administration division stationed in the Manhattan office.

He also appears to have a schedule: Friday nights at 2000H, he taps his badge to get to the firing range. 

Clint could talk to him then. Figure out why he’s never seen this man before and find a way to make it less cheesy.

Or at least that was the plan.

Just as Clint was about to talk to the man, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the man wasn’t as bad a shot as people expected from the administration division. In fact, Clint found out that Phil was a better shot than any of the people in SHIELD who routinely carried a gun. Bullet after bullet, Phil fired nonstop at the target silhouettes, not missing a single shot. 

“You’re good.” Clint said when the shooting ceased. Maybe it was the shooting muffs that gave Clint the element of surprise because as soon as Phil sensed that someone was behind him, he turned, training the gun on the possible assailant - which, in this case, was Clint. 

Clint moved quickly, disarming Phil by hitting his wrist and turning the gun a full 180 and pointing it at Phil. “Sorry. Muscle memory.” Clint shrugged. 

Before he could point the gun down, Phil retaliated by holding the archer’s wrist, spinning inwards, elbowing Clint in the gut and spinning back out with the gun already in his hands. 

“Sorry. Not sorry.” Phil responded, the gun still pointed at Clint. 

Clint raised both hands up in surrender and smiled. “Humor. I like it. I’m-”

“Agent Clint Barton. Codename: Hawkeye. I know who you are.” Phil finished for him.

“And I know who _you_  are. Agent Phillip J. Coulson. You can pull that trigger. I know it’s empty. I counted. Great set by the way.” 

Coulson’s right eye twitched, meaning he might not have liked the idea that someone knew his name. Kind of like Rumpelstiltskin. He lowered the gun and turned his back on Clint, reloading the gun.

“What do you want?” Phil asked him.

“I just wanted to talk.” Clint shrugged.

“So talk.” 

“Not a man of many words, I see,” Clint observed, taking the aisle next to Coulson and watching the target silhouettes reset themselves. “That’s okay. I can talk for the both of us, and then some.” Phil ignored him. “So here’s what I know. You’re not horrible with a gun. Had professional training based on the way you move. You’re personal friends with Fury. You have a military history that was mostly erased by the U.S. government with a permanent marker. You-”

“How do you know that?”

“We’re in the business of spying, Phil; is it okay I call you Phil? It’s a shame if we don’t use our skills. Anyway, this kind of background… it makes you wonder: Why are you in administration, instead of in the field?”

“It’s none of your business.” Phil answered with a sigh.

“I know.” Clint shrugged. “I wasn’t really expecting you to answer. God knows I’ve already violated your privacy enough. I just-”

Phil fired three shots. Two went dead center of the silhouettes’ heads while the last one was a little off to the right. 

Clint hissed in sympathy. “Your stance is a little off,” Clint pointed at Phil’s feet. “And your arm is too stiff. Try relaxing a bit.” 

Phil looked at him dubiously before taking his advice and firing off another four shots. All dead center. 

“That’s better.” Clint commented. “Anyway, as I was saying, I just thought maybe you should know that I did in fact violate your privacy before I actually apologized, you know?”

“How did you do that?”

Clint turned to Phil with a raised eyebrow. “Do what?”

“Correct my shooting. You weren’t even looking at me.” 

Clint shrugged. “I’m just that good, I guess.” He grinned cheekily at Phil. “Plus you’re a little rusty. So it was easy to identify where you needed work.” 

Phil looked mildly offended. “Rusty?”

“Oh, yeah. Totally.” Clint knew he was playing a dangerous game, but it was just so fun to bait Phil Coulson. “Rusty is a little too generous even. You’re more ‘forgot the basics’… but that’s acceptable, considering you built yourself a moat of paperwork in that dingy office of yours.” 

Phil, for all his patience and training, still fell for that bait. “Oh, you want to tumble, Barton? Let’s go. You and me. Hand to hand.” 

“I usually prefer if my date buys me dinner before we get down and dirty, but since it’s you, I’ll make an exception.” Clint winked and Phil rolled his eyes.

That was the start of a beautiful friendship.

—

_There is a legend in SHIELD._

_The legend says that the man currently seated as the Director of SHIELD was not always a field agent. He started out in the administration division. And then, during the Battle of New York, the beast inside of him woke up and his true potential shone through._

_After the attack, he was appointed Avenger liaison and soon after, Director of SHIELD. He jumped a lot of steps, bypassed several people aiming for the same position, but nobody could really refute that he deserved to be the one calling the shots._

_The legend says that this man, Phil Coulson, was rusty before Hawkeye helped him out. And if it wasn’t for Hawkeye, Phil Coulson would never have found his true potential-_

“Clint.” Phil warned. 

Clint rolled his eyes at the man and turned back to their pseudo-(mid twenties) kids - Jemma, Daisy, and Leo. “Your father doesn’t like hearing the _real_  story.” 

“That’s because it’s _not_ the real story.” Phil argued. “And stop calling me their father.”

“It’s how I remember it. And I will not.” 

“Well then, your memory is rusty.” Phil smirked. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/143697536081/my-sister-stole-my-laptop-so-she-could-play-sims)


End file.
